NAMES
Economic success, cultural autonomy and inclusive HR policies have allowed VUFKU (the All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration) to become an experimental platform for many avant-garde artists. Those were the Ukrainian film studios where the “Kinoks” Mikhail Kaufman and Dziga Vertov, who are the legends of the world film industry, could implement their manifestos of futurism.
Ivan Kavaleridze continued his own Cubo-Futurist sculpture experiments in filming locations. Les Kurbas, the founder and director of the experimental Berezil Theater, did not only shoot a few films in VUFKU studios but also introduced some prominent directors and actors to the film industry.
Famous writers — Mykhail Semenko, Yurii Yanovskyi, Ostap Vyshnia, Maik Yohansen — were VUFKU editors. A number of artists and illustrators — Kostiantyn Bolotov, Yosyp Kuzovskyi, Mykhailo Dluhach — and some students of Kyiv Institute of Arts worked for VUFKU part-time making film posters.
Some of the best experts in Arts & Architecture (set dressers/decorators) working for VUFKU were Vasyl Krychevsky, Yosyp Shpinel, Volodymyr Miuller, Solomon Zarytskyi and Heinrich Beisenherz invited from Germany. Moreover, as a result of cooperation of the graphic artist Oleksandr Dovzhenko and the photographer Danylo Demutskyi, a new film trend known as the poetry film appeared.